There is I am guessing far more to the story then anyone not in the family knows about, In the same way a Alcoholic has a underline problem causing them to drink so much. Same way a child just doesn't run away without other problems as well,As well a lack of communication between child and parent.

Oh for christs sake! Its obvious the parents are exaggerating about his "addiction".They dont want to be blamed for him running away so they're using the ridiculous excuse that all parents seem to use these days and blaming video games.People still cant seem to grasp the idea that video games are a regular hobby for teenagers and young adults. But wait, this whole idea is ridiculous. Running away from home would probably mean he wouldnt be able to play CoD4 at all. If he stayed at home his parents would have given him the console and the games back after a while.

My brother ran away from home mainly because he'd broke a kitchen window playing outside.

So we should ban ball playing. I saw him regularly engage in games of Kerbie outside the house, but I was too busy programming at the time. Luckily he returned and now I've introduced him to programming and he works as an I.T. Consultant.

Ah Mclains, unecessarily alarmist. While I suppose their reporting is better than Time, they like to sell magazines using headlines like "Canada is better than the United States" and "You Will Die Tomorrow!" or recently "The World as you know it is OVER!" (I'm exagerrating of course, but this is the effect that some of the recent Mclains covers have had on me).

They weren't actually blaming the game so much (The parents actually said that the did not blame Microsoft or the game for the situation.)as the online game community.Evidently he was part of a team, and participated in tournaments.The idea is that he redefined his identity with his online persona where he was skilled and relevant, and was unable to cope with just being a one of the crowd when that identity was denied to him.Now the impact of a game on someone is negligible but the impact of a community is less so and knowing what online gaming does to people, it pains me to say it but there may(or may not) be some validity to this argument.

Nazrel:They weren't actually blaming the game so much (The parents actually said that the did not blame Microsoft or the game for the situation.)as the online game community.Evidently he was part of a team, and participated in tournaments.The idea is that he redefined his identity with his online persona where he was skilled and relevant, and was unable to cope with just being a one of the crowd when that identity was denied to him.Now the impact of a game on someone is negligible but the impact of a community is less so and knowing what online gaming does to people, it pains me to say it but there may(or may not) be some validity to this argument.

Now, the kid's parents and media could be, and quite possibly are, morons. However, they could also be viewed as extremely efficient in spreading the word about that boy's disappearance. In a way, I'm thinking they just might be trying to use games as scapegoats... for a good cause, once in history.

zoozilla:I can't see how a teenager arguing with his parents and threatening to run away is indicative of anything but the fact that he's a teenager.

Word.

Also, while I understand that the focus is not on the game, per se, but rather the game's community, this poor boy is hardly the first teenager desperate to feel like he belongs to a group. Perhaps the traditional "in crowds" are changing, but the motivation is the same as it ever was.

zoozilla:I can't see how a teenager arguing with his parents and threatening to run away is indicative of anything but the fact that he's a teenager.

Word.

Also, while I understand that the focus is not on the game, per se, but rather the game's community, this poor boy is hardly the first teenager desperate to feel like he belongs to a group. Perhaps the traditional "in crowds" are changing, but the motivation is the same as it ever was.

I just hope he gets home safely, and soon.

Perhaps a good focal point for this would be on how the Western teenagers have a need to rebel but belong. Eastern teenagers don't have as much of a problem with authority and the grandparents are usually treated as Elders, rather than Care home cases.

Which would also go to serving the Drugs/Gangs/Gun problem as well as the Education/Homeless.

Nazrel:They weren't actually blaming the game so much...as the online game community. Evidently he was part of a team, and participated in tournaments.The idea is that he redefined his identity with his online persona where he was skilled and relevant, and was unable to cope with just being a one of the crowd when that identity was denied to him.

P.S. But the media bias is bullshit.

This was an article a couple weeks ago that had more background but Nazrel sums it up. It's the classic story of a kid who hangs out with the wrong crowd because he feels like he belongs. When the parents force him not to hang out with them, the kid rebels and runs away. This doesn't have anything to do with the game but with people themselves.Also, if he was so addicted, why did he run away if he can't play?

They really shouldn't just blame games. Any kid who is dumb enough to run away from his house because of a video game really needs some phycological help, the parents should have done that first when they noticed the game was "taking over his life". Thats what I would have done, or atleast sent him to a school guidance counciler or something.

I can't believe all the "what a dumb kid" comments. Don't you get it? He was just a kid. He didn't know any better. He was probably realizing that the real world can be dangerous when that danger caught up with him. Didn't you do anything stupid when you were that age? I know I did.

Wow, I normally like Macleans and actually read it every now and then, but I read that articles and I just had to laugh. The first bit of it was actually about the boy and what happened, but the rest was a full on attack on the "evils" of video games filled with bullshit statistics, complete lack of undertsanding of video games, and alarmist fox worthy tone, and a blatantly obvious bias that I'm not used to from Macleans. I found it so hard to read but i went through it. Alls I could do was /facepalm. I know that anyone here would not be lured by the complete outrageousness of the article, but honestly I know that someone who dosn't really know anything about the subject but what they hear on the news is going to read that and be persuaded that it's all because of the video games.

And I mean honestly, if someone tries to overdose on pills, does that means that the pills caused them to overdose. If someone drives recklessly in a car, does that mean that cars are evil and made him become reckless? NO! Any sane person realizes that it's that a reckless person with a car will be reckless with the car. But because video games have such a low standing in the minds of much of society, they are seen as culprits anywhere that there is any connection.

Well, if anything, this magazine just killed him.Teenagers are creatures of extremely high ego. Getting his story printed is going to do nothing but drive him further away from home, and eventually to death.Most of us have trouble apologizing when we do something wrong. Now imagine having your mistake printed on national paper, and then trumpeted throughout the net. The shame alone would probably now drive him toward suicide.I have known a few people who ran away. Most do return home, or are tracked down easily enough. Those that made the paper..nope. They all ended up dead.(I hope I don't get ban for this. I know it's insensitive, but this has been true in my experience so far.)

I hate when shit like this gets in the news. It's like when they try to link school shootings with too much Halo. They enjoy violent videogames, because they are violent people. The media seems to think that seeing violent videogames turns you into a violent person. They can't understand that the gaming is a side-effect not the cause.